In another Southern Illinois River-to-River match up, the Benton Rangerettes’ (8-9, 3-2) girls varsity basketball team was hoping for their first victory at Massac County High School.
Riding high from their big win against Murphysboro, the Rangerettes continued their momentum and defeated the Lady Pats by a score of 33-24.
“It’s a tough place to play and win,” Rangerettes’ coach Andy Sloan said of the Massac County court. “It wasn’t pretty, but we did enough to win and we’ll keep working on what we need to.”
In the opening quarter, the Rangerettes started a little slow and the home team took an early 4-0 lead. But the visitors found their groove and senior Alexis Abney (16 points) downed three consecutive field goals to give her team the lead. Ally Gischer (13 points) added a layup and the Rangerettes finished the first quarter with an 8-6 lead over the Lady Pats.
In the second, the Rangerettes were able to hold their opponents to only four points while they scored nine points. They started the quarter with a 7-point run with help from Kaylee Pedigo (4 points) who got on the board with a jump shot and a pair of free throws.
Abney knocked in back-to-back jump shots and Gischer sunk a pair of free throws at the buzzer to give the Rangerettes a comfortable 9-point lead (19-10) going into the half.
“Our inside gang has to be more consistent,” Sloan said. “And our guards need to do more work to relieve some of the pressure off of Ally.”
Gischer was a big presence on the court at Massac as she scored almost half of the Rangerettes’ points. She is just a few points away from hitting her 1,000 points mark with the Benton team, Sloan said.
Back on the court, the Rangerettes took early control of the ball and Gischer downed her solo 3-point bucket of the game. She added a jump shot to cushion her team’s lead to 14 points (24-10).
The points kept coming for the team in maroon while their defense held the home team to seven points scored in the third. Going into the final quarter, the Rangerettes maintained their 9-point lead by a score of 26-17.
Gischer opened the scoring again for the Rangerettes with a layup. She was followed by Abney who put up back-to-back shots under the bucket. The home team fought to catch up to the Rangerettes, but they only came as close as 9 points. Gischer downed one final free throw to bring her team up to 33 points and seal the deal for Massac.
At the final buzzer, the Rangerettes could celebrate their first victory over the Lady Pats at Massac County High School.
“I told them [in the locker room] that it would be an enjoyable bus ride home for once,” Sloan said after the victory.
The Rangerettes are back home on Monday night when they take on the SIRR foes, the Herrin Tigers.
